Cha-Ching! CyanogenMod Raises $23 Million in Funding to Build a Better Android Platform

Perhaps much to the chagrin of Google, it's quickly becoming clear that there's no stopping CyanogenMod. Coming less than a month after Google removed CyanogenMod from the Play Store on the silly basis that his installer application wants to void warranties, CyanogenMod today announced it raised $23 million in funding to continue and expand what the company has been doing, which is to essentially build out a better Android experience than Google.

The $23 million in Series B funding led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Benchmark Capital and Redpoint Ventures follows $7 million in Series A funding back in September. With the additional funds, CyanogenMod can (and will) add to its modest staff of just 25 people.

"This new influx of capital will primarily be used to grow our engineering team as well as our UX, design, and product teams so that we can continue to build the next generation of mobile experience," CyanogenMod stated in a blog post.

The funding is also a significant show of faith from investors who believe CyanogenMod has an opportunity to turn the Android ecosystem upside down. What started off as a ROM for the niche modding community could become a mainstream favorite. CyanogenMod has already found one partner willing to pre-install the company's version of Android on its handset (Oppo N1), and it's no longer about simply putting a bloat-free skin on top of Android -- CyanogenMod is focused on building out features that users want.